The present invention is directed to an article known in the electrical and allied trades as a "fish tape", which is an elongate, flexible tape, or messenger, intended to draw electrical wires, optical cables and the like through tubular conduits emplaced in the walls of buildings. The fish tape, which may be supplied in lengths of up to 200 feet, is advanced through conduits, i.e., from a first junction box to a second remote junction box. The fish tape includes at its rear end portion a holding means for securing wire or cable to be emplaced, i.e., a hook swivel or the like, and at its front end portion, some type of blunt or rounded end. After the wire or cable is secured to the holding means at the rear free end of the tape, the tape is withdrawn carrying with it the wire whereby the wire is disposed in the desired connecting relation between the junction boxes.